Breaking Point
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: this is my first GH story so please be kind. Mai isn't the person everyone thinks she is. in fact her real name is Kay Moriyama and she's the long lost heiress of the Moriyama company's long dead chairman and his wife. And on this latest case Naru and the SPR team will learn that some things are best left buried. Rated M. Pairing is Lin/OC'ish Mai.
1. Chapter 1

Day one-

The moment they pulled up to the mansion that they had been hired to check for ghostly activity, she knew something was wrong. A nagging sense in the back of her mind that she should _not_ be here. As she felt a chill go down her spine. Almost as if someone had just stepped on her grave. And her stomach- the bottom dropped out of it so quickly before the nausea hit her- that she'd almost thrown herself from the vehicle before it came to an abrupt and total stop.

So naturally once it did come to a total stop, it shouldn't have surprised anyone just how quickly she had managed to blindly fumble with the door handle and let herself out of the car before she hit the ground on her knees and doubled over puking while everyone else slowly got out of their cars and made their way over to the van and paused when they all saw her sick on the ground.

"Mai?" Takigawa cried as he made his way over to her and suddenly dropped to his knees next to her and wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders as she coughed up what little was left in her stomach and then let him pull her against his side as he asked her in a concerned tone, "Are you okay?"

_No._ She was not okay.

Asking her if she was okay seemed like some sort of really, really sick joke, She thought as she took several deep breaths and tried to wait until she felt a little more settled before answering when her boss, _Naru,_ the narrsissit- er had she actually thunk that? She meant, Kazuya Shibuya, walked over and looked down at her and frowned slightly before looking back at the western style mansion that they would be investigating, then looked back at her as Ayako- the red headed priestess placed a bottle of water in her hand.

Distracting her for a moment before Naru asked, "Did you sense something Mai?"

Knowing that Naru was like a dog with a bone once he had certain 'delicate' information, she gnashed her teeth and ground out in a raspy voice that held a wealth of anger and defiance, "No."

"Then if you're done making a spectacle of yourself-" Naru muttered as he turned and headed towards the house, letting his words trail off so that she could interpret them for herself as something along the lines of, _Pull_ _yourself together girl and get the hell up! _They were professionals in their field of study, after all and must present a professional appearance at all times otherwise no one would ever take them seriously.

Gnashing her teeth again to keep herself from growling something very unladylike at Naru's back, she was suddenly startled when Monk tried to stand and haul her to her feet with him. Which as it turns out was a horrible mistake on the older man's part since her body was starting to feel the backlash effects of being back in the place where her parents had been so brutally and savagely murdered before her very eyes.

She looked back at the house again and blinked as she saw the faces of her parents, both smiling, both so happy and blissfully unaware of what had been in store for them.

She heard Monk swear softly and was suddenly pulled back to the present as another vision swam in her mind. One of a small child, about seven or eight, stripped naked and chained to a wall by one of her slender little ankles while a man in his mid fifties sat perched on top of her stomach, pinning her to a dirty rat infested cell. He wide jade green eyes fixated on the silvery glint of a scalpel held in his hand as he sliced little a little bit here and there into her skin. All the while telling her how lovely she was. How pretty. How much the crimson flow of blood suited her.

He stroked the skin of her throat, the soft underdeveloped flesh of her chest, then lower to her stomach- checking to a nice area to carve up before his hand was laid on her abdomen-

Her legs felt too weak to hold her up even with Monk's help. She staggered earning a worried look from him, as her fingers tightened on his shirt. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe now as she saw the child twist and buck and heard her cry out for help in a terrified voice.

_Momma! Daddy! No! Don't touch me! _

**_Help! _**She thought as her vision started to fade. She couldn't do this.

The screaming in her head only got louder as the man began to carve the little girl's abdomen. **_Help! Please someone help! I don't want to relive__ this! _**She thought frantically as her legs finally buckled and she slipped into the welcoming blackness unconsciousness.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************)

When she woke up two in a half hours later, she was laying on a couch in their base with Lin's work jacket draped over her and all of her friends sitting or standing in various places all over the room either checking the monitors that they had already set up or simply waiting for her to awaken so that they could ask her why she had passed out.

Laying there quietly among the cushions for a moment, she tried to get her bearings when Lin, Naru's assistant, turned in his chair to say something to their boss and noticed that her eyes were open and none too subtly jumped to his feet, "Mai! You're awake." Drawing the attention of everyone in the room who all seemed to suddenly close in on her as she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, causing Lins overly large jacket to slip from her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Ayako asked as she sat down on the arm of the chair, right next to her and started to run her fingers through her hair in a soothing manner. Mai groaned and shook off her hand, startling the woman since she had never rejected her comfort before.

"I'm fine... My head just hurts." Mai muttered as Lin picked up a tea cup and saucer and walked over to her and sat down on the coffee table across from her and held it out to her as he said gently,

"Here. This should help. It's ginger and willow bark tea sweetened with honey. It'll help with you're headache."

"Thanks." Mai muttered in a sullen tone as she looked around the room noting in irritation that the idiots had brought her inside the hellhole she had escaped as a child. Reaching out she took the cup and saucer from the Chinese man without looking at him, and took a small sip of the liquid to keep herself from telling him that the tea would do nothing for her headache since it stemmed from reliving the horrors of her past.

Besides he had obviously been worried about her to go through the trouble of making the tea for her. So who the hell was she to be a bitch about the small things when he was only trying to help? Everyone was silent for a moment before Naru asked, "Did you sense anything Mai?" His voice, though soft, seemed to ring in her ears as if he had shouted them at the top of his lungs.

Ignoring the question was out. Naru would know if she ignored him. But talking about what had happened to her in this place when she was a child somehow made it seem that much worse. So maybe lying would deter Naru and the others- stop them from asking unnecessary things. Lin reached out and took her chin in his hand and lifted her head and stared at her for a moment with his dark, nearly jet black eyes before stating, "She saw something alright."

Mai jerked her head, forcing him to let go of her and growled, "No, I didn't."

He dropped his hand and gave her a puzzled look before frowning a bit and arguing, "Yes you did. I can tell. You're eyes have a slightly glazed and pained look to them." Mai glared, giving the Chinese man her most scathing look before leaning forward and slamming her tea cup on the coffee table next to Lin's leg and then stood up and hissed,

"Just fuck off!" Then went storming to the closest exit. Not caring that everyone, Naru included, was gaping at her.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that day- well it was closer to evening actually- sometime around eight or nine when Naru and the others all filed out of base to go to the dining room where they would be meeting with the client and having him/her tell them everything he knew about the activity in the house. The only real problem that Naru foresaw at the moment was that...Mai hadn't returned to base after telling them all to 'fuck off'.

He nearly chuckled at the vulgarity of her words before catching himself and wondering, Where had she learned such language? It certainly hadn't been from himself or Lin, they watched themselves whenever they were with the young and impressionable. And it bothered him a bit why she had used such foul language on them if she knew something. It was her job after all, as a latent clairvoyant to tell them when she saw and dreamt of things. Yet she was holding her tongue on this one.

Puzzling...

"I wonder if Mai is okay." Said John, the Australian catholic priest as he looked around the hall they were walking down as if he expected the girl to suddenly just magically appear.

"I'm sure she's fine." Naru said, dismissing the idea that his employee (*cough* she who shall remain nameless *cough*) was quite possibly in trouble of some kind.

"I dunno," Monk said in a doubt filled tone. "She was sick earlier. Maybe that's why she was acting so funny. I'd get pretty bent out of shape myself if I were still sickly for one reason or another, and everyone around me was giving me the third degree." The man said as Naru made a humming sound. Not really caring one way or the other for anyone's opinions at the moment.

Especially about Mai.

But he supposed that _technically_ they did have a point. If Mai had run off and gotten sick again then she very well might return to them possessed, if she wasn't already that is. They reached the dining room, and Naru paused along with the rest of the group just long enough to look around. It was a very nice, spacious and lavish room with a table that could seat ten or more made of solid red oak polished to a glossy shine and a bunch of stuffed velvet, high back chairs with matching wooden trim.

There were several paintings, each a lovely pastel watercolor with flowers and ponds and lakes hanging on the walls. And three large heavy shelves with expensive glass dishes and figurines on display.

All in all it was a lovely room.

Yet Naru had an unexplainable feeling of sorrow that felt so heavy the covered the room like a storm cloud.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Shibuya." An white haired elderly gentleman wearing and black and white butler's suit said as he walked into the room pushing a cart with plates, glasses, soup bowls ect...

Naru looked over at the man and put on his most professional smile and stepped over the threshold, ignoring the sudden sinking feeling that centered in the pit of his stomach as Lin and the others slowly- perhaps a little too slowly for his peace of mind- came into the room behind him. Making him wonder if perhaps they also were feeling the effects that the room seemed to have on him.

He would have asked, but pushed the question to the farthest back of his mind and made his way over to the elder and shook his hand as he finally worked up the nerve to answer the man's earlier question. "Yes. I'm Kazuki Shibuya, and these people are my associates. The buddist monk, Takigawa. The priestess Ayako. The medium, Miss Masako. My partner Lin-" The Chinese man bowed respectfully towards the elder who smiled at him. "This is father John," Naru said motioning to the priest who was across the room with monk checking out one of the paintings. As he added in an irked tone, "And I'm afraid that you will have to wait to meet my idiot tea pourer since she threw a fit earlier and ran off."

"Oh my. I-It isn't because she's inside the house is it? I mean- Did she get possessed?" The man asked in a distraught tone as he started to wring his hands and mutter, "Perhaps I should ask the rest of the house staff to help find her?"

"That won't be necessary. My friends and I will deal with her once she returns. May we?" Naru asked indicating to the chairs. The elder flushed a little bit in embarrassment and nodded.

The scraping of chairs being pulled back away from the table could be heard echoing in the room as each person sat down in their place and let the man serve them their food as Naru began firing questions at the old man. "To begin, how long has strange activity been going on here?" He asked as the elder placed a plate and soup bowl in front of him before replying.

"Why it's been nigh on ten years now."

"Why did you wait so long to seek out help?"

"Well ten years ago it was impossible since paranormal research and activity was thought to be a sham. However with the recent developments in science and such- it just seemed like the right time. Besides- the spirits of the house never seemed all that violent up until a few months ago. Merely a little restless."

"What sort of activity do you or your staff usually experience?"

"Small things mostly. Little orbs of light flitting about. The haunting sound of laughter. And then it began to escalate... About mid June I think. The kitchen staff reported a ghaustly apparition appearing in the middle of the room and grabbing one of the maids-"

"Yes, go on." Naru said as the elder stopped what he was doing and went perfectly still for a moment before starting to wring his hands again.

"I-I'd rather not. It's really very horrible and there are ladies present."

"We can't help you if we don't have all of the information pertaining to this case. Now please, continue." Naru said as he reached out with his mind and gave a ruthless push.

"Well, the maid that was grabbed- she- she- _died_. Right there in the middle of the room with everyone watching."

"Did her heart give out from fear?"

"Good god no! The lady had been as healthy as a horse. There were no problems with her heart nor anything else. It was the manner in which she died that was so horrible. The poor thing didn't even have time to scream before-" The elder winched a bit as he plowed on, "_Herbodywasrippedinhalffromtheinside!" _

Naru looked up at the elder, his violet blue eyes narrowing slightly as he asked, "Did I hear you right? Did you just say that the maid was ripped in half from the inside?" The elder hung his head for a moment and then nodded.

"I see." Was all that Naru said for several heartbeats before asking, "Has the apparition killed anyone else?"

"Yes. Four more maids and three gardeners."

"I see, and were they all ripped in half as well?" The man nodded again and Naru sighed. This was going to be a bothersome case. He could just tell. In fact he was already getting a splitting headache. He was about to ask the elder something else when he and the others heard the faint sound of footsteps outside of the room and turned just in time to see Mai step into the room.

"Well at least that's one problem that we don't have to worry about." Lin said before catching the look on their client's face out of the corner of his eye. The man looked shell shocked. His skin had gone almost as white as his hair and he was crying as he struggled to speak. Opening and closing his mouth like a fish before letting the glass in his hand slip from numb fingers and shatter to the floor as he took off running around the table with a happy cry,

"Mistress!"


	3. Chapter 3

She had spent all day away from base in the hopes of avoiding her friends, knowing that if she went back- they would press her for answers about her behavior. So she had spent most of her day outside, resting in the branches in the large willow tree that had been planted out in the garden where her mother's dismembered body had been buried along with the bodies of all of_ his_ other victims.

Rose bushes, lavender, lilies, poppies, peonies, and magnolia's lined the area now, thick with fragrant and colorful flowers in full bloom, were the only things that marked each of the unfortunate souls graves now since there was likely little left to dig up and give a proper burial now.

She had spent a while speaking with her mother.

Letting her know that she still lived and was happy (when Naru wasn't getting on her last frigging nerve, that is) and telling her about her life so far and how _he_- the man who had killed her and her husband had met his end before she had disappeared. Leaving the estate and everything else that would be needed to the servants for trying so hard to protect her once they had realized what was happening, at such a great cost.

So naturally when it had started to get dark, she had sighed and decided to go in. Using the same way she had gotten out of the house as a means to get back inside; the window in her old bedroom.

Once back inside she had taken a moment or so to look around her old bedroom, noting that nothing had been changed. Her bed, her stuffed toys, her books, her favorite dresses and ribbons were all still exactly where they had been the day she had laid them out. The day that she had wound up in the basement. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle and glanced towards the clock on the small purple dresser and noted the time.

It was late.

And unless she missed her guess then everyone would be gathering in the dining room to eat dinner soon. Deciding that she should go now and grab some small something from the dining room while the other's weren't present, she slipped out of her old bed room and started walking the long winding halls towards her destination only to pause just inside of the doorway when she heard Naru and her late father's old butler/her old play mate Mr. Taniyama, speaking and was about to turn around when everything went silent.

Glancing nervously towards Mr. Taniyama she inwardly cringed when she saw his face. His eyes riveted on her own, his mouth opening and closing in shock and disbelief before hope lit his features up like a Christmas tree.

_No! Don't do it- _She thought in horror as he dropped the glass in his hands and let it shatter on the hard wood floor while he made a mad dash for her. _Don't say anything! Don't remind me that this was once my home! _Her mind fairly shrieked in agony a mere moment before she felt his body slam into her own, his arms going around her as they both fell to the floor while he cried, "Mistress!"

_Damn it all to hell... _She thought as she hit the floor on her back while silently cursing the surgical team that had reconstructed her face when she was a child. They had promised that no one would ever be able to tell who she was! But they had quite obviously been wrong and _dammit_- Mr. Takiyama was killing her with his overly emotional outburst!

Why before she knew it the whole damn staff would be drawn to the dining room and she would never get her food or her escape!

"Mistress, you're alive! I knew that the doctors at the hospital were lying when they said that you had died!" Mr. Takiyama sobbed as he pulled her upper body up off of the floor and hugged her against his chest and cried a little bit more while the SPR team all continued to stare, apparently unable to utter a single word.

Finally after one very long, mortifying, horrifying moment- she finally managed to push the elder away from her and looked him straight in the eyes and said in a soft but stern tone, "I'm not you're mistress. You are mistaken. Now, please get off of me."

"Mai, what's going on here?" Her bosses snotty tone of voice asked as she made a small **_'EEEK!_**' sound and tried once more in earnest to free herself from Takiyama's grip as she looked up to find half of the table's occupants standing just a few feet from the two of them, their expressions curious.

"It's nothing!" She almost shrieked in a panicked tone as she continued to push against the elder's chest until Lin decided to step in and help her out by kneeling down and placing a hand on the man's shoulder and glared at him as he said in a soft but dangerous tone that promised a wealth of pain if refused,

"You're scaring Mai. Let. Her. Go."

Takiyama looked at the Chinese man then back at her then abruptly released her causing her to fall back and hit her head on the floor before someone moved to help her up. She was pretty sure it was either Ayako or Monk. Which only served to make her feel guilty for her choice of words earlier when they had all been worried about her. "Forgive me Mr. Shibuya, but you're young friend here is the spitting image of the little miss that lived here ten years ago. In fact, she would even be the same age as this young miss if she were still here. I'm afraid that seeing her shocked me a bit-" Takiyama said with a faint blush as he continued to explain, "Seeing her was just like seeing the young miss. Stepping foot inside her home for the first time in ages."

"Did it ever occur to you that your 'little miss' is waiting for you to burn this place down, and have the land blessed or something before she bothers to return." She growled in annoyance as she dusted herself off, not realizing that she had just spoken aloud.

"Mai." Naru snapped in annoyance, his patience with her wearing thin as Takiyama flinched slightly at her tone and looked down. She looked at the elder and felt a small twinge of guilt as she straightened her spine and thought, _Well hell._

What was she supposed to do now?


	4. Chapter 4

Once everything had calmed down a bit, she found herself lifted up off of the floor by both Lin and Monk and dragged across the room and placed in a seat at the table where the two then proceeded to stand on either side of her with their hands on her slender shoulders, pressing down on her. Making sure that she couldn't get up. **_Trapping her like a frigging rat!_ **

_Some friends they were_, She thought while growling softly to herself she crossed her legs under the table and began drumming her small oval shaped black nails on the arm of her chair as she listened to Naru continue to gather information while Takiyama continued to sneak glances at her.

Seriously...she hoped her former doctors and all their blood kin dropped dead and were sent straight to hell.

There was only so much trauma a person could deal with in one lifetime. The fact that she was practically staring hers down, glare for glare obviously meant nothing to anyone otherwise they would _let her fucking go right now! _But no... They couldn't respect certain boundaries and had to drag her back to the place where she was forced to relive some of her most _horrifying_ and _terrifying_ moments as a child.

God she wished she could disappear again. She thought moodily as Takiyama continued to sneak peaks at her while none too subtly making his way around the long table until he was standing right across from her, Monk and Lin. If anyone thought that his behavior was even stranger than before, no one commented on it. Although such a detail certainly didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

Takiyama stopped speaking to Naru and stared at her with an unfathomable expression on his face for a moment before realizing that unlike the others- she hadn't had anything to eat as of yet and that might be contributing to her bad mood. Bowing to her slightly he gave her a small apology that she wished she could respond to and quickly, yet politely excused himself to go get her something.

And as expected, the moment he was out of the room Naru and the others pounced.

"Where were you? We were worried!" Ayako almost shouted at her as John put his hands up in a placating gesture towards the woman and then turned to her and said.

"Ayako is right Mai, this place may be more dangerous than we first realized."

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously, wondering what he meant as she felt Monk dig his fingertips almost painfully into her shoulder through her clothing as he hissed from between gritted teeth.

"Several young women have been killed by whatever spirit is here. And you could have been next- running off like you did."

"Doubtful." She said without meaning too and quickly paled and slapped her hands over her mouth as Naru (never one to disappoint) seemed to latch onto her words and pounced like a cat that had been waiting patiently on a mouse.

"What do you mean doubtful? Do you know something that we don't Mai? Perhaps you've already solved the case? Care to let us in on what it is that you've been so desperate to hide?"

She bared her teeth at him in a dark parody of a smile as he stared at her with his unblinking blue/violet eyes and said clearly, "Go to hell." She felt a sharp, painful jerk on the shoulder that Lin was gripping and almost yelped even as he leaned down and whispered in a dangerous tone that sent shivers down her spine,

"Language Mai."

Turning her head to glare up at the man she whispered back, "He'll live Lin. Besides when has being told to go to hell ever hurt someone like him?" He might have conceded her point if not for the fact that Takiyama had returned with several maids, drawing everyone's attention to them as they all made their way over to where she was sitting and placed several different dishes down in front of her.

Vegetable soup, steak cooked medium rare with garlic on it with mashed potato's on the side slathered in a fair amount of what looked like home made buttermilk ranch dressing, a small ice cream bowl full of honey mustard was placed to her left along with a salad and a another bowl full of nothing but cut up fruits topped with whipped cream.

She stared down at the food placed before her and felt the need to bang her head against the nearest available hard surface just to keep her mask from slipping. Dear god after ten years they still remembered her favorite dishes and how she liked to eat them! It was enough to make a girl cry. Truly it was. But she had a role to play as an orphan, one without a background that would be found suspicious.

So after a moment or two of staring at the food and damn near drooling, she picked up her fork and knife and started to eat, slowly, cautiously, ya know- since there were onlookers in the room studying her every move.

"Is the food to the young lady's liking?" Takiyama asked with a slight smile as he watched her. That's when it hit her. The sorry bastard knew it was her. He'd someone known from when she had stepped into the room and now he was testing her. He knew that she loved these things! And that as she was now she had to give them up. She couldn't afford to let her mask as Mai slip.

Even if it wasn't really who she was.

"Th-The food is fine," She said after swallowing the latest bit she had been chewing. Takiyama beamed at her as if he had won this little game. However, sadly, she had become a master of games since leaving this place and as such would continue with her winning streak. Silently praying that he'd one day forgive her for what she said next she went on to say, "It's very good food. And unless I missed my guess it was made to suit a very specific person's taste. But next time you can just give me an apple or a sandwhich."

Takiyama's smile faltered and fell from his face and he hung his head a little bit. The earlier enjoyment he felt in serving her disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

A few minutes later-

She pushed away her plate and set her fork aside as she listened to Takiyama continue to tick off the list of activity ranging from the waltzing spirits that appeared in the living room every night at two am. To the evil spirit that had started killing people- no, scratch that- it wasn't just killing them. Unless she missed her guess it was trying making an example of them while adding their souls to the house for it to feed upon.

_How like that bastard to do such unsightly and horrible things to get someone's attention. The sadistic natured attention whore. _She thought snidely as she mentally went over the history of her former home to the best of her ability.

The mansion had been built by her great, great, great grandfather as a gift to his wife. They had lived together in the house for nearly four years and had three children.

Of those three children, only one had managed to live to adulthood due to accident/desease and had married and had a kid or two of their own. From there she had had one grandparent on her father's side of the family that had lived and died on the grounds of the mansion when she was a child. But then he had died at the ripe old age of eighty something. After that several servants had died, one of whom had been Takiyama's own second oldest son who had just become the gardener.

And then there was her parents grisly deaths.

The deaths of some kidnapped and missing children that were tied to the mansion- and the last death that had happened occurred ten years ago when she had left the hospital a month prematurely and he had been so paranoid that she would send the authorities and take everything away from him- that he had slit his own throat to keep from being taken to jail.

Which of course had shocked and stunned her when she had heard about it.

After all what other reason would a greedy, sadistic, manipulative pedophile have to slit their own throat aside from guilt (which he had been incapable of) and- Takiyama's voice cut through her thoughts like a knife as he finally stopped listing the activity on the grounds and inside the mansion and finally addressed her, "Young lady I do apologize again and hope that you can forgive me for earlier... Both tackling you to the floor and the small test I put you through. It was rude of me to presume-" He might have gotten further if she hadn't felt a twinge of guilt and decided to stop him there.

After all there was no reason for him to apologize to her.

"Stop apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Perhaps but I feel I owe you an explanation." He said as he started to wring his hands. It was a nervous habit that had developed ten years ago while he had tried so hard to figure out what he, Shidoyami Kumi, had been doing to her.

Everyone else in the room was silent as they watched the exchange between them, wondering what was going to happen or be said next. If they expected a confession from her then they were going to be sorely disappointed. She had nothing to confess.

Not if it meant outing herself and giving her friends ammo to use against her later on.

"Again, stop apologizing. Where is you're pride as the head butler of this house hold? You're late master and mistress gave you this job after telling you to never bow your head in shame for doing you're job," Takiyama's eyes widened slightly as his mouth dropped open while Naru and the others listened intently to the conversation. _Ah-ha! _So Mai did know something about the house and the people in it after all. The little minx. "For ten years you and the rest of the staff here have cared for and done everything you could to keep the small hope that your young mistress would return, alive. You should never apologize for that. Do you understand?" She said in an authoritative tone that the rest of the SPR team had never heard before.

It was so out of character for Mai to speak to others in such a way.

To say that it was a bit worrying to them would be an understatement. Even the robotic and seemingly emotionless Naru was beginning to worry about his young employee.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************************)

Later that night-

Back at the girl's bedroom a few doors down from base Mai was going through her duffle bag to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything. Her meds. Her clothing. Her toothbrush and hair comb. Her favorite shampoo and conditioner and body lotions. Once she was sure that they were all there she started to pull out some night clothes when several of Ayako, John, and Monk's talismans and crosses fell out of her bag along with a few of Lin's.

_Oh bother. _Did they really think that she was possessed? And that these little things would exercise the spirit inhabiting her? Why she was of half a mind to- to- give each of them another piece of her mind... But not right now.

Picking up a few of the crosses, talismans and charms she then grabbed her night clothes and headed for the closest bathroom to bathe hoping that there wasn't a camera in there. But knowing Naru like she did- there likely would be.

Entering the bathroom she flicked on the lights and sure enough, across the way over by the toilet was a camera. _That freak of nature! _She thought in outrage as she stared at it for several seconds. Trying to will it to burst into flames. That would serve the bastard right. The perv.

After all, how dare he set up camera's in the bathrooms! People used those for- for private stuff!

Huffing at this latest development she failed to wonder if perhaps the camera had simply been put there to observe her. After all, her alter ego Mai wasn't a terribly interesting person. The person that they knew her as was dull, and drab, like the color grey. Never sparking the attention of those who see it, it merely existed by accident or circumstance of fate.

Much like her.

She was nothing but a mere circumstance of fate. A cruel, and painful one that was far to harsh a reality for her to bear. Setting her stuff down on the counter of the sink she looked over at the camera, narrowing her eyes as she viewed it- trying to gauge whether or not it was really on. She couldn't see a little blinking red light. Or any little blinking lights for that matter.

So perhaps she had merely jumped to conclusions since Naru had never recorded someone bathing before. And to her knowledge he had no reason to start now. _Sooo..._ Dropping her guard she reached up and took the hairpins out of her hair and slipped the light brown wig off of her head then took the rest of the pins from her chocolate brown waist length hair. Freeing the soft waves and curls completely before taking out her contact lenses and blinking her jade green eyes at her own reflection in the mirror.

Gods, she had changed so much in the past ten years... She hardly recognized herself in the mirror anymore. She thought sadly as she turned away from her reflection and grasped the hem of her shirt and hauled it up over her head and then set it aside next to the pile of clean clothes. And then turned her attention to removing her shoes as her hands went to the fastenings on her pants and slowly undid them so that she could just slide them off as she turned back to the mirror and smirked at her reflection as she took in the scars on her chest, above her heart and running along the swells of her breasts and dipping lower, under the hem of her pants as she said, "Welcome home Kay."

And heard the faint sound of a furious inhumanly male voice whisper, _"This will be your cemetery."_


	6. Chapter 6

_"This will be you're cemetery." _A distorted and chilling voice from her past whispered close to her ear, making her pause what she was doing and stiffen in alarm while the temperature in the room suddenly fell to near frigid.

Moving quickly, she snatched up the cross and talismans that she had taken from her bag earlier and began to ward the small room in a vain hope that _his- spiteful, evil, horrid-_ spirit wasn't strong enough yet to break through and touch her.

After all she had managed to make out a few snippets of conversation about his appearance had caused the deaths of several women.

And she didn't feel like being next. The mirror frosted over as evil laughter tugged at a shard of long forgotten agony that had been buried for the past ten years, causing her to slip John's blessed cross over her head and then move to the middle of the room where the camera could record everything (again, that was only if it was on at the moment) and took a small shallow breath to try and still the frantic beating in her chest.

Okay, the room was completely warded. She was wearing a blessed cross, and just in case she was attacked, she had managed to keep at least three talisman's. Two from Monk and one from Lin. All three were powerful in their own right, but combined- and this was just a rough estimate or guess- they could easily rip a soul; no matter how powerful, apart.

Looking around the room in trepridation, she wrapped her arms around herself, and breathed the painfully cool air causing her breath to burn in her lungs as the cold numbed her skin. The hairs on the nape of her neck stood on end as she looked back and forth warily while thinking, _Where? Where is he? _She knew he was there somewhere. Hidden in the particles of the air, waiting, watching...

Looking for an opportunity to attack. But with everything warded, he wouldn't get his chance as long as she was in here. So for the moment she should be safe.

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Base-

Lin sat in his seat going over what video footage they had gathered within the past few hours while simultaneously looking over it's past history for any red flags. He was alone in the room where everything was set up because Naru and the others had decided to split up and do individual interviews and a walk through. Leaving him to gather what information he could while he worked.

It seemed that the house had quite the history.

Generation after generation of accidental deaths. Murder. Disappearances. The kidnapping of local children (dozens of them if not more). Torture. Pedophilia. The more that Lin looked into the house's very, _very_ disturbing history. The sicker at heart he felt. But he managed to push any and all feeling aside until he came to the last bit of news articles that he found online.

The last few was about the former masters of the house. He even managed to find one of the whole family together. There was a dark haired man in his mid to late twenties with a young woman with curly dark brown hair and sparkling green eyes. And held in the woman's arms was a tiny, dark haired little girl who was the spitting image of her mother.

Scrolling down a bit further he scanned the headlines about the man and woman's disappearance. Then the guardianship of their daughter had been handed over to her supposed godfather- which turned into a scandal when it all turned out to be a lie. But by then the little girl had vanished and wasn't seen or heard from again for almost five months before she was found in the basement of the house, chained to the wall, naked and bleeding from various wounds. One of which had been a very severe head wound that according to the police reports he could manage to hack into- should have- by all rights killed the girl.

Not long after that, she disappeared completely off the face of the earth.

Scrolling down a little more he glanced at a 'Missing Child' pic, and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach in horror at the face that stared back at him. _No! __It couldn't be-_ He thought in disbelief as he jumped up out of his seat and slammed his laptop down on his desk so hard that the screen went blank for a second.

The smiling image of the little girl had been aged using the latest tech at the police's disposal to look like- _Mai?!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Mai?! No. God no, it couldn't be! _Lin thought in alarm as he stared at the picture of the little girl.

His mind automatically going into denial despite knowing that the girl was in fact the young woman that had been working with himself and Naru for a while. Almost four in a half years now that he thought about it. And in all that time all he or anyone else had learned about the girl was that she lived alone, was an orphan, she went to school when she could (and surprisingly enough despite all her work related absences- had graduated with honors- just last year). She liked working for SPR with himself, Naru and everyone else.

But aside from those things she was very close lipped about herself. She never spoke about her friends outside of work (if she even had them). She never filled out paper work that would include her birthday, where she was born- hell, she didn't even tell anyone what her favorite color or food was!

Lin was a logical man but he was also a man who saw what other's couldn't. In fact he had always prided himself on being able to see with unclouded eyes. And yet... Here in the face of the truth, he felt like a complete and utter fool. Truly he did.

Mai had deceived them all so perfectly. Hidden herself in plain sight right beneath their noses.

He wanted to be mad. He wanted to be furious with Mai for her deceit.

But after reading the news clippings and police files about the house and it's terrible history- he couldn't bring himself to think anything terribly bad of her for her actions. She was- er _had_- been just trying to survive a very frightening and downright terrifying experience. She had reinvented herself, become someone who couldn't be traced back to her childhood home and the numerous tragedies that loomed over it, and her, like a thunder cloud.

No, this wasn't her fault. But now that he knew the truth... He wanted to rip his hair out by the handfuls and scream in frustration. _Naru. Was. A. Fool! _And not just any fool either- but the stupid one who had foolishly dragged Mai back into a nightmare that had already claimed the lives of so many.

Dammit.

If they didn't watch her at all times, she'd likely be killed by the spirit/spirits that had started killing the people in the house!

Gnashing his teeth he turned his dark eyes to the monitors sitting neatly stacked on a small long table and systematically began scanning the images from each of the camera's and finally paused on camera four. There she was. There was Mai. Grabbing the closest notebook where each camera was listed as well as their number's and what room they were in- he noted that camera four was in the bathroom down the hall and glanced back at the image.

Sure enough, there was a sink, a shower- and Mai...was standing in the middle of the room in just her bra (a very, very, very nice pale green bra that held her wonderful B cup- _Oh_ _dear god._ _Why was he even looking at her breasts and her bra?! He wasn't a pervert!_) and her unbuttoned jeans which looked like they were all but ready to fall from the girl's slender hips.

Narrowing his eyes a bit, he could just barely see some of the terrible scars she must have gotten as a child. They practically littered her entire torso, neck and arms!

There were some that looked like small, insignificant wounds. And there were others that looked like someone had taken a knife to her body and tried to peel all of the skin off of her in various places. There were burn marks, slashes, but what stood out the most, in his opinion, was the red markings that wound around her neck and wrists.

There were two each and both markings looked strangely like what one would get from a metal collar and shackles.

Oh dear god, please don't tell him that she had at one point been in a collar and shackles! Of course if she had been in shackles at one point in time then it stood to reason that she may have been subjected to... Well- _stuff_ that was best not thought about.

But it would also stand to reason why she liked her damned privacy so frigging much! That and... In her natural state she was just so damn beautiful. Far too beautiful, even with the scars, for his peace of mind. Couple that with the fact that he knew about her past and many of the things that she had suffered, and his prior aloofness and indifference towards Mai would be negated completely.

Whistling, he summoned two of his shiki and ordered them to go and protect Mai as he sat down and tried to think about what to do with his new knowledge. Because he just knew that nothing good would come of it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the late update. **

**My mind is everywhere... P.S. sorry the chapter is short. I'll do better next time.**

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It took twenty seconds.

Just a mere twenty seconds flat to decide what to do about his discovery. And if Lin had known just how much that twenty seconds would change his life, and in what way- he might have run instead of erasing the footage of Mai in the bathroom and calling his shiki back so that he could go and stand outside of the bathroom and wait for her to open the door.

As it was he knew that what he had done to the footage was a huge breach of trust and as such Naru was going to tear him a new one. But he figured that the less everyone else knew, the less Mai would be singled out and targeted by both her friends and the malicious spirits in the house. He sighed and leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest as he wondered just how badly things were going to go for him once Naru found out that he was keeping shit from him.

At worst, he'd kill him. And close at second worst was- he'd fire him. Maybe ban him from the office and from working with him on cases.

He hoped that didn't happen, but Naru was a sly, clever and vindictive minded kid. If he got it into his mind that Line should die, well by god, he'd have to kiss his ass goodbye because nothing would stop the teen from murdering him. He heard the lock on the bathroom door click and automatically straightened his spine and pushed away from the wall as he let his arms drop to his sides in a relaxed position and waited as the door slowly opened and Mai stepped out. His dark eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the wig and contacts back in place as if she had never removed them at all.

Ah, so that was what had taken her a little longer.

He had always wondered why she stayed in the bathroom five minutes longer once she was done showering. Turns out that this answered his unasked question. She took fifteen minutes for her shower. And another five to put her disguise back into place. His lips twitched slightly in amusement as it occurred to him that he was somewhat impressed by how flawless her disguise was. Especially since not many people could do the same without making a mistake somewhere or getting flustered for some reason.

Mai looked up at him and blinked as if she were seeing a mirage of him standing there or something instead of seeing him standing there in the flesh, and started to open her mouth to ask what he was doing there when he beat her to it and cut her off. "Forgive me for startling you Mai, but-" _Think Lin, think! Tell her something that would excuse you_ _being outside of the bathroom waiting for her!_ "But there was some alarming activity a few minutes ago and I thought it might be best to stand here and wait for you to finish what you were doing so that I could take you back to base myself."

_"Oh." _Mai said as she stepped further out into the hall and gently closed the door behind her as she fidgeted with a small bundle of clothing in her hands as took a moment or so to scan the hallway in both directions before looking back at him and arching a brow. "I don't sense anything." She said in a slightly challenging tone.

Lin opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, totally unsure of what to say that would sound even the least bit believable to her. Instead he simply decided to say, "We should get back to base just in case Naru and the others have something to report." He said as he moved to stand next to her and awkwardly placed a hand at the small of her back and started to maneuver her down the hall before she could stall them any longer and gave Naru and the others enough time to return to base and find him missing.


End file.
